The Unilever Young Entrepreneurs Awards

Ideas that can change the world for the better

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At Unilever, we know that innovation will play a key role in creating a world in which sustainable living is commonplace. We believe the social and environmental challenges facing the world can be overcome - but only if people, including ourselves, are prepared to do things differently. We see a big opportunity to support, inspire, reward and collaborate with a new generation of the world’s most inspiring young change-makers from all over the world with brilliant new initiatives that can bring about the positive change we need.

Unilever’s Young Entrepreneurs Awards are all about supporting and celebrating inspirational young people from all over the world with existing initiatives, products or services that are tackling some of the planet’s biggest sustainability challenges. Up to eight finalists will get a boost to scale up and change the world. There’s over 100,000€ up for grabs, along with tailored one-to-one mentoring sessions for 12 months provided by experts from Unilever and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

The 2017 competition closed on 30 June. We received a record number of entries, 1,339 from across 128 countries to be exact! It’s inspiring to see so many young change-makers tackling some of the planet’s biggest sustainability challenges. Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit their initiative.

With great pleasure, we invited the eight finalists to London in late October 2017 to compete for the overall top prize. A few days later, after an immersive accelerator program, Sabrina Natasha Habib lifted the trophy and was awarded the HRH The Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize for 2017.

The 2018 Awards are around the corner, sign up to stay in touch and to be one of first to hear from us!

Farm to table

How can we transform our food systems so that they create value and enhanced livelihoods for farmers and ensure security of supply for the long-term while safeguarding the environment? And what can change in the way we make or consume food and drink so that they improve people's health and nutrition?

Opportunities for women

Millions of women around the world face discrimination and curtailed opportunities. Could new initiatives provide access to skills and training, create opportunities for women to actively, safely and fairly participate in the economy, or help women escape from poverty?

Waste

Are there entrepreneurs out there with ingenious initiatives that help to tackle waste – to reduce, reuse or recycle waste throughout the pre-production, production and consumption lifecycle? Initiatives that can demonstrate a clear business (financial), consumer (benefit), social and environmental case?

Water

Water scarcity, water pollution and sanitation and hygiene issues all present big challenges to people's development. Could innovation find ways to conserve or reduce the amount of water people and businesses use, or make a breakthrough that would improve hygiene and access to sanitation?